The Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special was the most-watched programme over the festive period last year other than the Queen’s Christmas broadcast. This year, the show will compete against the first King’s Christmas speech since 1951, as well as other festive programmes.
Six celebrities will be paired up with Strictly professionals, set to air a week after the main series finale. The show will be recorded on 7 December in advance of the Christmas Day broadcast.
Who are Strictly Christmas Special 2022 contestants?
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Rosie Ramsey is the first contestant to be confirmed to take part in the Christmas special of the BBC show. She is a podcaster, presenter, and author, best known for the podcast Shagged Married Annoyed which she appears on with her husband, comedian and presenter Chris Ramsey.
On the podcast the couple have light hearted discussions about life, relationships, arguments, pet peeves, parenting, and growing up. Rosie has also appeared on Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow, and comedy talk show The Chris & Rosie Ramsey Show.
Ramsey will be partnered with professional dancer Neil Jones who was partnered with Nadia Wadia on the 19th season of the show - the pair were the first to be eliminated. Rosie’s husband, Chris, took part in the show in 2019 - he was partnered with Karen Hauer and the pair reached the semi-final.
CBeebies presenter George Webster will be paired with professional dancer Amy Dowden, Girls Aloud’s Nicola Roberts partnered with professional dancer Giovanni Pernice; actor Larry Lamb with professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova; soap actress Alexandra Mardell with Kai Widdrington; DJ Rickie Haywood-Williams with Luba Mushtuk.
What has Rosie Ramsey said about appearing on Strictly Come Dancing?
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Speaking about her upcoming appearance on Strictly on BBC Morning Live, Rosie said: “I watched Chris do it in 2019. I was insanely jealous. So as soon as I got asked to do this, I just grabbed it with both hands.[Chris is] giving me tips and he’s just kind of understanding that it is difficult, but he could not dance at all when he started and he did so so well.
“Training is really hard. I have got so much more respect for anyone who’s ever taken part in the show over all of the years. It’s a lot. It’s a lot of cardio, let’s put it that way. You never know with Craig, do you? You just never, ever know how he’s going to judge it or whether he’s going like it or not.
“I watch the show with my seven-year-old, Robin, and he loves Craig, but he’s also terrified that he’s going to give me a really bad score. I think… I can move my feet – let’s put it that way.”
When is the Strictly Christmas Special 2022 on TV?
The once a year special will air on Christmas Day on BBC One - last year the show aired at 5.10pm and lasted 75 minutes, the broadcast time for this year has not yet been confirmed. The show will also be available to watch live on BBC iPlayer and after it has been broadcast.